Angeli d'Italia
by iRideSaix
Summary: Italy dies-in the first chapter. And in death, he is reuinited with Grandpa Rome who gives him the option of seeing "What Could've Been." In this new AU world, Italy finds that Holy Roman Empire never left and is, in fact, Germany-but still HRE.AU kinda
1. Chapter 1

Whoo! This is my first Hetalia fanfic... So please don't hate me if it sucks. And yes, Italy is pretty much dead the whole story, but he's still the main character. It'll make sense... Hopefully. And sorry if the little bit of Italian I have in this chapter is incorrect. I used google translate...

Anyway, enjoy~!

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><p>Angeli d'Italia<p>

"You are currently in the threshold, and lying before you is a forked path," he explained calmly. "To the right lies your current life. Following this path will change nothing. To the left is a different world—one similar to your own, but with its differences. Someone you once knew waits at the end of this road for you." He looked down at Italy whose expression was unreadable. "Choosing this path will alter your life, and you will come to know what _would have been_. You must decide."

"'What…would have been?'"

"Yes." He held his hand out for Italy. "If you would like…I can give you a preview of it."

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><p><em>Il paradise è pieno di angeli, ma il mio è qui con me.<em>

_Heaven is filled with angels, but mine is here with me._

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><p>There was a distinct, heartbreaking sensation about the air in the room that France could not describe, but he knew where it came from. Italy was dying.<p>

Italy's illness has begun only two months before. It had started with a huge drop in the country's economy. Most people had lost their jobs and their homes, and, because Italy's boss had done nothing about it, the people had begun to lose their hope. Italy was in bad shape then and had taken to bed to recover, but it only got worse. Italy's boss continued to ignore the problems of the people and was soon hated. He was assassinated after some time, and violence and corruption shortly followed. Germany and France tried to help, but it wasn't enough. Italy was torn apart.

France watched as Germany held tightly onto Italy's hand, probably willing the smaller country to stay, but everyone in the room knew all too well that these were Italy's last moments. France let out an almost inaudible sigh and directed his attention to Spain and Romano who were in the far corner of the room. Romano had taken ill, as well, but the support of Spain had somehow pulled him through. But even though Romano had recovered, France was almost certain the Italian wished it was him dying instead of his younger brother.

Spain held Romano in his arms as the younger country let out great, gasping sobs, muttering curses to the gods for trying to take his brother away from him. When Spain noticed France's gaze, he returned it and signaled with his eyes that he had Romano covered and that France should see how Germany was holding up.

France stood up and walked over to Germany who sat next to Italy on the bed, still holding that pale hand. "Germany…" the blonde said after a moment's hesitation, but when Germany made no sign that he even heard him, France placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "Germa—"

"It's over," Germany mumbled in his low voice that seemed even lower and heavier with grief.

"Excusez-moi?"

"…It's over…" Germany repeated, a little louder and with some effort.

"Sorry, I still can't hear you," France said, leaning closer, and Germany's shoulders began to shake.

"I said he's dead!" Germany shouted angrily, his outburst momentarily shocking France and causing Romano to run out of the room crying much harder than before.

"Perdón," Spain said quickly and ran out after Romano to calm him down.

Once Spain left, France didn't know what to say. Then again, he was sure nothing in the world could comfort Germany besides Italy coming back, but that wasn't even an option.

France took a deep breath and, slowly, began, picking each word carefully as to not upset Germany any further. "Listen, Germany… Italy is… in a better place now. …His suffering has ended. You should… be happy for him."

France chose not to say anything more, waiting for Germany to speak or to not say anything at all.

A few moments passed before Germany finally turned around to face France with an expression so heart-wrenching and different from his normal, angry expressions that France was given almost as big a shock as when Germany had shouted just minutes before. Germany's face was red, especially around his blue eyes, usually loyal in hiding his emotions, which now betrayed him and made him seem uncharacteristically vulnerable. And, in fact, he was vulnerable, and the tears behind his floodgate eyes were now flowing freely.

"…Happy?" Germany asked, his voice trembling. He wanted to be able to say that he could one day feel that emotion again, but now, he wasn't so sure. He wanted to believe that he could go back to the past, back to the days when he _could_ say that he was happy. He wanted to have Italy back by his side forever, to see him eat pasta again, to see him flee from combat training again, to see those beautiful, golden eyes. He wanted to tell all of this to France, or to anyone for that matter, but all that came out were little sobs that didn't sound like his own—sobs that couldn't bring back Italy. _His_ Italy. Nothing could bring Italy back, and that was that.

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><p>...Well. That's chapter one. A bit short for me, but here it is... was. I hope it was sad and not cliche.<p>

I have surprisingly little to say. Weird, huh?

Anyway, thank you SOOO much for reading. If you've read my most recent Kingdom Hearts fic, please know that I'm just being lazy about writing it and will hopefully get around to it soon. And please review this fic! I worked hard... I'm too used to Kingdom Hearts. Thanks, everyone! =D


	2. Chapter 2

Hi! I'm *finally* back with chapter two. ...Yeeaah, sorry it took so long. I had a bunch of exams for school these past few weeks and haven't gotten much of a chance to write (which translates to: yes, I did have some exams, but I rarely ever study, so me not writing/posting this new chapter for so long is mainly caused by my laziness and chronic procrastination ;D) It's okay, though. Better late than never, yeah? Anyway, on with the shoooow~!

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><p>Chapter 2<p>

"_Play the pasta for me, Italy," Germany said with a shy smile—the very smile Italy loved best, the one that sat on Germany's lower face like solid hesitation, the one that actually reached his eyes, the one that brought on that rare blush Italy always hoped to see._

_Italy sighed with content and did as Germany requested, picking up his pasta-stringed violin with his left hand and his pasta bow with his right. Italy began to play, and the notes sauntered out of the instrument, laughing and singing as they went. They skipped up to the sky, hand-in-hand, and circled the moon, faster, faster. The moon was tickled and itched with a certain something only Italy's pasta could induce, and it began to dance. It danced with the stars, with the sky, and with those dark clouds just barely visible in the night._

_As the moon glided and spun across the night sky, it left a trail of sparkling dust behind it, letting it fall gracefully to the ground. The longer Italy played, the more dust descended, until everything was covered like a blanket of a snow._

"_What is this?" Germany asked, his deep voice not at all discordant to the heavenly sound of Italy's pasta._

"_It's magic, Germany. Magic!"_

Italy opened his eyes—just a bit—, and sunlight poured right in like a river, diluting his dream until it became nothing more than a vague recollection of something pleasant. It was morning, Italy guessed, or maybe afternoon. He supposed Germany decided to give a rest on the training that day, for no one had come to wake the Italian up. In that case, it probably was afternoon. Either way, Italy shrugged it off, and he rose from his bed and got dressed, yawning the entire time.

Once he was ready, he began to head for the kitchen when the scent of freshly cooked meat and scrambled eggs wafted into the room. The aroma was surprising; no way did any of Germany's cooking smell anything like that. But it had to be Germany's cooking, no? Who else would bother coming to Italy's house to make him breakfast in the afternoon?

Italy shrugged once more and followed the scent to the kitchen, a little wary of the possible intruder. When he arrived, he first poked his head through the doorway, just to make sure it really _was_ Germany.

"Ve?"

Unfortunately, it wasn't Germany. There was a man standing at the stove, cooking and humming quietly to himself so as not to wake his grandson with his lovely, booming voice. Little did he know, his grandson was already awake and staring right at him in awe.

The humming man seemed little more than a stranger to Italy, but there he was, making breakfast in his house. The man was tall, probably taller than the intimidating tower that was Germany, and had soft-looking brown hair. A pair of large, brilliantly white wings fluttered on the man's back. Italy couldn't see his face, but now that he really thought about it, the stranger's back did seem vaguely familiar.

"Um… Good morning," Italy said with a polite smile. "Who—"

But Italy never got out another word before he was practically tackled by the large stranger.

"Ah! Italia~! I've missed you!"

"Ve?" Italy choked out from under the man's scruffy chin. That voice… "Roma-ji-chan!"

After a moment longer, grandfather and son let go of each other, and Rome took a step back to admire Italy.

"Well, look how much you've grown! No more dresses, then?"

"Nope!" Italy said proudly. "Austria-san took them away when my voice changed."

"Well! How've you been, then?" Rome walked over to the stove and dumped some food on a plate for Italy. "Sit down, sit down; we've got a lot of catching up to do, no?"

Italy did as he was told, and Rome set the plate down in front of him.

"You know, I came to visit you once. When I did, I met that German fellow of yours."

"He yelled a lot, didn't he, ji-chan?" Italy asked through a mouthful of bacon.

"He certainly did," Rome said, taking a seat across the table from Italy. "He seemed to be very… angry."

"Oh, that's just how he is. He sounds angry even when he really isn't—even when he's smiling. Then again," Italy said with a sigh, "he doesn't smile very often, but when he does, it can be scary."

"Yeah, he did seem a little terrifying."

"He means well."

"Yeah…" Rome shifted his weight to lean on his arm. "Listen, Italia, were you and him—?"

"Oh!" Italy interrupted. "Why are you here, ji-chan?"

"Huh? What do you mean…? Oh… You don't know then?" A frown began to form on his mouth.

"I don't know what?" asked Italy, sensing but trying to ignore the uneasiness that washed over Rome's face.

"Erm… Well, to put it bluntly: you're dead."

"…Ve…?"

The world seemed to crash and burn with Rome's words. "You're dead." It echoed through Italy's head with a kind of repetition that made him want to vomit, and he almost did.

"What—? How—?" Italy tried to ask. _What happened? How did it happen?_ But he knew the answer before he could pull the questions from out of his throat. _That_ had happened.

A wave of vertigo passed over Italy, and his surroundings began to spin. Rome rushed over to Italy's side and directed his grandson back to his seat. Italy hadn't even realized he had shot up to his feet until he felt the chair beneath him once more.

"Italia…"

Hot tears spilled down the Italian's cheeks, incessant and bursting—bursting with a sorrow that Italy had felt only once before. But that was then and this was now, and, in truth, neither really mattered much anymore. Italy was dead and no means of transportation could carry him back across the river of life and death.

"No, no, Italia, don't cry!" That was easier said than done, though. "Listen, listen," Rome said again, taking Italy by the shoulders. "I'm afraid I was too vague. You're not exactly dead, not just yet. You haven't sprouted your wings."

"Huh? I don't… d-don't under-derstand," Italy said through gasping sobs.

"You see," Rome began, but soon remembered something else. "Oh, that's right. _They_ told me you'd be coming so they told me something very important that I'm supposed to relay to you. I guess I was just so excited to see you that I forgot about it. Well, no worries."

"Who are '_they_'?" Italy asked, growing more and more confused by the second.

"Uh? That's unimportant right now," Rome said, waving away the idea. "Now, dry your eyes; we're going for a walk. Come along, now."

Rome led the way, and Italy went along, followed by the fear and confusion that hung over his head and the silence that stalked them both. Italy had about a million questions he wanted to ask, but he felt that Rome would answer them anyway when they arrived at their destination. Besides, the scenery was quite fascinating, if a little frightening.

Rome and Italy walked along a cool path of faintly pink clouds, lined on both sides by starry-eyed trees—that isn't to say the trees actually had stars for eyes, but they did seem to sigh and sway and giggle contentedly as the former empire and country passed by. The trees were sakuras, their blossoms almost the same shade as the clouds to which they were rooted. The trees were odd, Italy found, as they somehow gave him the impression that they were girls flirting with him, and Italy almost found himself winking back at them.

Rome must have noticed Italy's attention fixed on the trees and said, "Aren't those trees beautiful? You know…" He leaned in close to Italy, though still walking, and whispered, "If you tickle them underneath the branches, they'll turn into sexy women~..."

The Italian's eyes grew ten sizes larger, and Rome laughed. "This _is_ heaven, after all," Rome said again.

Heaven…

After a while longer, the two reached a fork in the road, and Rome came to a halt.

"I think this is it," he said, and Italy looked up at him, waiting for him to explain everything.

The roads led a ways down in either direction, and shining silver light shone at the end of both of the roads.

"Well," Rome began. "You're probably wondering about this place, so I'll start with that. This is heaven, and that back there was your house in heaven. Looks the same, no?"

Italy nodded, waiting to hear more.

"Anyway, as I said back at your house, you haven't sprouted your wings. Anyone who hasn't grown wings upon waking up in heaven still has a little bit of life left in them, meaning they still have a purpose back on earth. _You_ still have a purpose back on Earth. _They_ told me there's something you need to know before you die for real, so you've been given another chance."

At this, Italy couldn't help but to smile. He still had a chance.

"I can go back, then?" he asked innocently.

"Well, that's the thing. You _can_, but you don't _have_ to. And~" Rome said with a smile, "… there's another option."

"Ve…? Another… option…?"

"It's… tricky, I suppose, so let me put it like _They_ told me." Rome cleared his throat.

"I don't—"

"You are currently in the threshold, and lying before you is a forked path," he explained calmly. "To the right lies your current life. Following this path will change nothing. To the left is a different world—one similar to your own, but with its differences. Someone you once knew waits at the end of this road for you." He looked down at Italy whose expression was unreadable. "Choosing this path will alter your life, and you will come to know what _would have been_. You must decide."

"'What…would have been?'"

"Yes." He held his hand out for Italy. "If you would like…I can give you a preview of it."

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><p>Whew, that was fun, yeah? Anyway, I... really have no clue when I'll even begin writing chapter 3, let alone upload it... sooo... Yeah =D<p>

Anyway, tomorrow is my last day of school. My freshman year is ooooover, pretty much, but I do have my last two exams tomorrow. Oh well.

So, yeah. I believe that is it. Thank you everyone for the reviews and the story alerts and favorites and such. I'm not used to getting so much... um recognition? I suppose that's the word. Anyway, I hope no one was OOC or anything. Please continue to review and favorite and read and all that jazz. Thank you guys so much! See you next time~!


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